The Texas Rangers will head into Game 4 of the World Series against the Arizona Diamondbacks without their Game 1 hero, Adolis García, on Tuesday night.
Garcia is dealing with a “moderate oblique strain,” according to manager Bruce Bochy, which Garcia tweaked in the Rangers’ Game 3 victory on Monday night. Because of that, García wasn’t in the starting lineup for the Rangers.
While Bochy said that García would be evaluated, ESPN’s Buster Olney reported that he was walking through the clubhouse with a bat and said “all is good.”
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“It’s not great news,” Bochy said.
Travis Jankowski replaced García in the lineup, as he will play in right field. Mitch Garver also moved up the lineup to the No. 3 spot where García has exclusively been. Evan Carter will hit fourth and Josh Jung will hit fifth.
García left Monday night’s game in the eighth inning after flying out. He was in pain once he made the swing, and he was immediately taken out of the game by Bochy for further evaluation. The initial diagnosis was left-side tightness before Bochy’s comments on his oblique.
García has had a historic run in October, hitting .323/.382/.726 with eight home runs in 15 games for Texas.
García was named the ALCS MVP after smashing three homers in a six at-bat stretch to lead Texas over the Houston Astros in Games 6 and 7. His flair for the dramatic also came out in Game 1 of the World Series as he hit a walk-off home run in the 11th inning after Corey Seager’s two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth forced extra innings.
That home run gave Garcia 22 RBI for an MLB postseason record, breaking St. Louis Cardinals third baseman David Freese’s previous record during the 2011 playoffs, where the Rangers fell in the World Series.
The Rangers, now up 2-1 in the series after beating the Diamondbacks on Monday night, 3-1, are taking García’s absence from the lineup in stride. It’s a next-man-up mentality.
“Whoever slots into his spot in the lineup is going to do a great job; whoever plays right field will do a great job,” Nathaniel Lowe told ESPN. “It’s nothing new to us.”
First pitch is set for Game 4 at 8:03 p.m. ET on FOX with the Rangers giving the ball to Andrew Heaney and the D-Backs going with Joe Mantiply to start.
